MORONGO RESERVATION: Plan to alleviate traffic on I-10

A truck drives by in the background on Interstate 10 east of Cabazon, with Seminole Drive in the foreground. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians and Riverside County are partnering on a proposal to extend Seminole through the reservation by a mile to link up to another road to the east, creating an emergency access route in the event that Interstate 10 is closed.

Seminole Drive extension project

A draft study and environmental assessment is available for public comment until June 28.

The route: A one-mile extension of Seminole from where it dead-ends east of Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa to Rushmore Avenue at Kimdale Drive in Whitewater.

The study: Available for review at the Cabazon Public Library, 50425 Carmen Ave., or the county Transportation Department, 3525 14th St., Riverside.

The benefit: Building the "missing link" gives Interstate 10 motorists an alternate route between Cabazon and Whitewater if the freeway closes in an emergency.

A project is in the works to build a two-lane road on the Morongo Reservation north of Interstate 10 to keep east-west traffic moving if the freeway is closed because of an emergency.

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians is partnering with Riverside County on the project, which would extend Seminole Drive near the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa.

In the past, motorists have been stranded for hours at points between Banning and Palm Springs, because there is no alternate route if the freeway is closed.

The freeway is the link between desert communities and the rest of Southern California. In 2012, an average of 91,000 to 103,000 vehicles per day traveled the route at the Morongo Trail interchange depending on direction of travel, according to Caltrans data.

Under the proposal, Seminole Drive, which now dead-ends east of the casino, would be extended about one mile to intersect Rushmore Avenue and Kimdale Drive. From that area of windswept scattered homes approaching Whitewater, motorists would be able to take Tamarack Road to the Haugen-Lehmann Way entrance to I-10.

Caltrans completed an $860,000 project June 6 that added a series of five gates on the freeway median between Banning and the Highway 62 exit near Palm Springs that will allow traffic to make a U-turn when the freeway is closed.

“Morongo previously entered into a memorandum of understanding with the County of Riverside and others to examine solutions for alleviating traffic congestion during major incidents on Interstate 10. The Morongo Band of Indians will continue to work closely with the County, Caltrans and our neighbors in the Pass to improve public safety along the freeway,” tribal Chairman Robert Martin said in a written statement.

“They have been very cooperative. We have been out there meeting regularly,” Patty Romo, the county’s deputy transportation director, said by phone of the partnership with Morongo.

Paving will cost an estimated $800,000. Romo said the tribe, which makes grants for projects that benefit the tribe and the surrounding area, took action to reprogram $200,000 from another project to pay for the Seminole environmental work.

Sales tax generated by the new Desert Hills Premium Outlets shops will pay for the rest. County supervisors voted in December to set aside 25 percent of sales taxes generated from new stores to pay for increased sheriff’s patrols by the outlets and make road improvements to keep traffic flowing nearby.

“We’re going to try to do this with our own county crews,” Romo said. “I’m hoping we can do it by the end of the year.”

Because the project crosses tribal land, the environment review involves compliance with state and federal rules. The environmental document must be approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Then the tribal council would be asked to grant a 100-foot-wide right-of-way for a road easement.

The route will be parallel and just north of a separate right-of-way for the underground Colorado River Aqueduct pipeline that brings water to the Inland area.

Members of the public can comment on the draft environmental report until June 28. The assessment looks at potential impacts of the project, including traffic, noise, vistas and effects on plants and animals in the area.

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